


Battery

by gnx (LiesArePartiallyTrue)



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens (2015)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Dehumanization, Gen, Implied/Referenced Torture, handwave all science and tech talk, i sure did
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-02-24
Updated: 2016-02-24
Packaged: 2018-05-22 23:59:36
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,234
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6098221
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LiesArePartiallyTrue/pseuds/gnx
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"Though he looks different than what Han remembers – cheekbones higher, sharper, nose looking bigger on a thinned-out face - there's no doubt left in Han. This broken body, contained like an experiment, belongs to Ben. Han's Ben, his only kid, the son him and Leia mourned over fifteen years ago."</p><p>Or, in which Han, Rey, Finn and Chewie find Ben in a glass tube while running through Starkiller, with wires poking into him, in a complete daze, and Han finally learns what happened to his son after he went missing.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Battery

**Author's Note:**

> for [this](https://tfa-kink.dreamwidth.org/2821.html?thread=4605445#cmt4605445) prompt on the [kink meme](https://tfa-kink.dreamwidth.org). 
> 
> there's nothing overly explicit here, but heed the tags nonetheless. fair warning, i'm kind of rusty with star wars canon.

“The power system grids are in this corridor.” Finn says, pointing a thumb over his shoulder. 

Han eyes the stormtroopers they've just blasted unconscious on the floor. “Shouldn't we be taking care of the shields first?”

Finn shakes his head. “This power source charges almost everything on the Base, including the shields. We take that down, and they won't know what hit them.”

He stares at Han intently, vibrating with adrenaline where he stands, but still waiting for approval. Chewie makes an affirmative noise and Rey just shrugs. She still hasn't told them what Hux was doing to her while he had her prisoner, but the quiet determination schooled in her features is enough information for Han.

Han wonders briefly if Leia and the Resistance have anything useful on the Starkiller's “power source”, but there's no time left to make contact. Whatever they do, they've got to do it now, fast.

“Alright, but we need to hurry up,” Han says. Finn nods, grabs Rey's hand and flies down the left corridor. Chewie and Han follow, throwing one last cautious look to check for any 'troopers coming from the tunnels.

 

They stop in front of the last blast door at the end of the corridor. Finn does a quick once-over of the entrance and turns to Han, “Okay. We can use the charges to blow it, but it won't be quiet. The 'troopers are gonna be on our tail, and fast.”

“We don't have any other choice, do we?” Han asks, shaking his head.

Rey looks up at him. “Actually, I think there might be something else we could try.”

She doesn't offer any further explanation, just steps closer to the door and says, “Move back.” Her face closes off as she concentrates, hands raising slowly in the air, as if on their own accord. Otherwise, she stays still, tension only visible in the way her palms are sweating. 

Han has some guesses to what she's doing, but apparently Finn doesn't. He stares at Rey, brow furrowed, and gasps audibly when the door gives to her mind tricks and opens with a hiss of air, revealing a dark-lit room.

 

Han makes to step inside and stops dead in his tracks. Chewie lets out a guttural, wailing cry from somewhere behind Han when he sees what he's looking at.

The room is smaller than any other they've seen on the Base already, filled to the brim with equipment. Han's shipped biotech before, multiple times, but this is on a whole other level – all screens in the room are bright, holographic, displaying data and specs at rapid speed; the wires are optical, reflecting the holo light as they loop and intertwine in the air. There's some sort of substance flowing through them that Han can't recognize, a weird-looking blue plasma. 

The air cackles with energy, Han can feel it sizzling around him, electrifying him until his clothes and hair buzz with the static.

It's undoubtedly the Force, Han can guess as much, even though he's never had any sensitivity for it. Its presence is overwhelming, amplifying his senses, and it levitates around the room in such quantity that Han can almost feel its palpability.

Its center point is the tube in the middle of the room. It's easily the largest object in the small space, with walls made of thick, impenetrable-looking glass. In it, floating through more of the blue plasma, is a body. Human, the head limp to the side, dark hair knotted and falling over a hollow face.

The body is thin, underfed and bare. With all the skin on display, Han can see how pale it is, almost transparent over the veins, dark with patches of bruising in some places where blood vessels have burst under it. All the wires in the room are hooked to the thin, frail-looking hands and legs inside the tube, entering through ports in the glass, transporting and exporting fluids.

Though he looks different than what Han remembers – cheekbones higher, sharper, nose looking bigger on a thinned-out face - there's no doubt left in Han. This broken body, contained like an experiment, belongs to Ben. Han's Ben, his only kid, the son him and Leia mourned over fifteen years ago.

He stands frozen at the door for some time, staring disbelievingly forward. His throat constricts, it feels like there's an explosion going off in his chest.

Still somewhere at his back, Chewie's giving off distressed whimpers. Han isn't paying attention to what he's saying, but he shares the sentiment nonetheless, thinking back to years and years of pain and longing when their little family thought everything was lost. 

 

Finn and Rey are whispering sharply at Han, now, actually poking him. They don't know what's going on, there's no way they could know, even if Rey was Force-sensitive. They have a reason to be worried – their time is running out, Han knows the 'troopers are going to come after them any minute now.

When his thoughts finally catch up to him, Han surges forward in a flash of color amidst the room's stationary gray, bangs his fists against Ben's tube. He pays no attention to Finn when he tries to grab his shoulder.

He gropes blindly around the strings of wires, feeling for a slot of some sort so he can open the container manually. Chewie comes to stand behind him, stopping at a respectable distance to let Han deal with his emotions. He knows better than to try to talk sense into Han right now, leaving him to knock on the glass in his hurried frenzy. Han appreciates it, even if he does mind the coddling sometimes. 

"Solo?" Han hears Finn say, him and Rey still hovering at the door, looking around anxiously. Han turns sharply around, suddenly remembering in startling detail what Finn had said – this room is the power system grid, the one that powers most of the Base.

"What is this?" He doesn't specify what he means by 'this'. He actually thinks it's glaringly obvious.

Finn rubs a hand at his neck impatiently. "The power source?" He looks genuinely confused now, throwing skittish looks to the doors. Rey's look is unreadable. She doesn't say anything.

"The power source?" Han repeats, somewhat incredulously, voice raising in volume. "What do you mean, the power source?"

"I mean, like a battery," Finn says, wary. "He charges all the systems, including the defensive modes. Remember? We gotta turn him off, now, man, they'll catch up to us soon."

Finn refers to Ben as 'he', Han notices, but it doesn't really matter – the way he says it sounds like an 'it' all the same. Finn's is tone as impersonal as if he were talking about an object.

“We can't just turn him off!” Han shouts. “That's my son there! That's my son you're talking about, and he's more than a battery!”

Finn's eyes go wide and he takes an involuntary step back. Rey gasps. “Your son? How is that possible?”

“Snoke,” Han says. Finn's 'oh' is barely audible, but Han appreciates his terse nod. It means an apology, at least.

“We're getting him out of here. I need to take him back to the Resistance,” Han says with finality. 

 

Finn and Rey don't protest, and for the next minute, Han can only hear the clank of the glass cracking and breaking when Chewie shoots at it again and again with the bowcaster.

**Author's Note:**

> frequent trips to the sw wikia were made during the making of this fic.
> 
> come say hi on [tumblr](gee-nx.tumblr.com), where i pretend i can write.


End file.
